Dallas Symphony President Steps Down

Jonathan Martin, who brought stability to an administration in turmoil after taking over as the Dallas Symphony’s CEO and president in 2012, is leaving his post to take the reins as president of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, the DSO announced today.

Michelle Miller Burns, the symphony’s executive vice president for institutional advancement and COO since 2015, has been named interim president, effective immediately. Martin will serve as her adviser until he starts his new job in Ohio in September, according to a press release. The executive board of the Dallas Symphony Association has already begun a search for his permanent replacement.

“I have deeply enjoyed my five years here in Dallas and have cherished my time in this extraordinary community,” Martin says in a statement. “It has been a great privilege to work with the Board, Music Director Jaap van Zweden, our staff and musicians of this great orchestra. I will miss the friends I’ve made and the phenomenal music-making here in Dallas.”

Martin, the former executive director of the Charlotte and Spokane Symphonies and general manager of the Cleveland Orchestra, was appointed the DSO’s president and CEO in September 2012. He took over an organization that had been mired in money problems and gone through four CEOs in the preceding four years. As for the five years under Martin, here’s the press release from the symphony:

In the past five years, under the leadership of the Board Chairman Joe Hubach, Jonathan Martin and the senior executive team, the Dallas Symphony Orchestra has built an exceptional infrastructure and implemented a strong overall strategy which will continue unchanged. This leadership and these organizational initiatives have positioned the DSO for long-term growth and have cultivated a vital and relevant organization able to adapt to a changing environment. They have enhanced DSO’s operational excellence and financial resiliency, created groundbreaking programs to engage audiences and spurred extraordinary musical and artistic growth within the DSO. Initiatives such as ReMix and The Nancy A. Nasher and David J. Haemisegger Family SOLUNA International Music & Arts Festival speak to that success and vision.

Martin just beats Jaap van Zweden out the door. The 2017-2018 season will be the Dutch maestro’s last as music director of the DSO before he leaves to take one of the most prestigious jobs in classical music, directing the New York Philharmonic. His replacement has yet to be named. Change is obviously underway at the Dallas Symphony.